


Two Familiar Faces

by Spingtail



Series: AtBB Canon [5]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Near Genocide Ending, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Undyne (Undertale), one-sided edgepuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-01-24 14:38:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21339853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spingtail/pseuds/Spingtail
Summary: Papyrus comes home to some very strange monsters on his couch.
Relationships: Papyrus & Papyrus (Undertale), Papyrus & Undyne (Undertale), Papyrus/Papyrus (Undertale)
Series: AtBB Canon [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1312490
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	1. Questions

**Author's Note:**

> To clear up any confusion:
> 
> Russ= Undertale Papyrus  
Red-Papyrus= Underfell Papyrus (for now)  
Papyrus= Underswap Papyrus (for now)

Papyrus shuffled to the house, barely lifting his feet as he read over one of the files in the stack that he was holding.

Another small family on the edge of giving up, it seemed. One of the mothers had already fallen down, leaving her widow and two children behind. He would need to contact them soon to get them hooked up with a good healer and group therapist, if there were any left. Maybe he could even get the remaining mother a job at the castle, he pondered.

Technically, looking over these files were Undyne’s job, but so was literally everything else, so he took it upon himself to help out. She didn’t like to show it, but he could see the way she tried not to fall asleep when she sat down for just a few minutes. He knew she could certainly benefit from the small amount of work he did. He would do more, without a doubt, if only she would let him. For now, he’d just deal with these few cases.

As he got to the front door, he looked around what used to be Snowdin Town, digging his key out of his pocket. It had been abandoned ever since the human came, deemed to be far too close to the ruins to be safe for inhabitants. It was nothing more than a ghost town, with all of its shops and homes cleaned out completely. Most monsters lived in New Home, now.

Papyrus was pretty sure he was the only one who ever came back. If a human wandered down, it was probably better off that he saw them before some random citizen. They were still working on rebuilding the Royal Guard, too, which meant that defenses were weak.

That was something he actually _ was _in charge of, at least a little bit. He would keep an eye out for any possible recruits among New Home. So far, he hadn’t chosen anyone that hadn’t approached him on their own, which meant the guard only consisted of Muffet and that one goat kid who would never stop following Alphys around, when she was still alive. If they were lucky, though, they’d never have to put the guard to use, considering all the traps that were recently set up in the ruins. 

He shook his head, clearing the thoughts away as he finally unlocked the…

The lock was broken.

He took a quick step back. Alright, sure, he knew supplies were running short, but would someone _ really _come all the way here just to rob him?

Unless…

Unless it was a human.

Putting his hand on the doorknob, he listened closely, shifting the stack of files to one hand as he formed an attack in the other.

Slowly and very, very carefully, he nudged the door open, and the talking stopped.

He froze as he saw two skeletons sitting on his couch, looking at him like they only half expected him to walk into his own home.

“...Oh,” one of them spoke, his blue eyelights looking him over. “...I thought this was a dead universe. Whoops.”

The other one glared at him as if he was personally insulted.

“So much for a _ pitstop,” _he growled, his sharp teeth forming into a deep frown. “I can already tell he’s gonna ask, like, 400 questions.”

“Hey, don’t be rude!” The blue skeleton scolded, rising from the couch. “This is his house, after all. He still deserves _some_ explanation!”

“Who are you?” Papyrus asked, holding his attack forward as the blue one got closer. It didn’t seem to slow him down.

“Howdy to you, too!” He said, sticking out a hand. “Call me Russ! You’re Papyrus, I’m guessing?”

“...Uh, yeah,” Papyrus answered, hesitantly putting away his attack before grabbing Russ’s hand. He only grew more weary at the other’s firm grasp, feeling more like he had just made a business deal rather than meet someone new. “...And _ him?” _

The red one scoffed, not bothering to rise from his place on the couch as he crossed his arms.

“Papyrus,” he responded, not offering anything further, even as Papyrus (the _ actual _Papyrus) looked at him incredulously.

“Long story short,” Russ explained instead, “We’re both you from two different universes. Feel free to ask whatever questions you have floating around in your mind at the moment, because I know there are a lot.”

“...Are you serious?” Papyrus asked simply, staring at him like he had sprouted another head. “Like, is this a joke?”

“Nope!” Russ answered, flashing him a wide grin. “This is about as real as it gets!”

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

“Have you seen any other skeletons around before, besides your brother?”

“...No,” he muttered, looking away at the mention of his brother. He hadn’t seen _ him _in a while, either.

“Then I think you might as well just believe us.”

Stretch sighed, knowing he probably wasn’t going to receive a better explanation any time soon. He decided he’d play along, but only for now.

“...Alright, then,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve got some things to do, anyway, so try not to cause too much trouble if you’re gonna stay down here. And fix the lock if you can.”

“Oh, right. Sorry about that!” Russ apologized sheepishly. “We really had to get out of the cold for a little bit, and we didn’t think you were coming back.”

“...Uh huh,” Papyrus nodded, keeping a close eye on him even as he went toward the stairs.

Unfortunately, he quickly regretted that as he realized that the house had gone far too long without being cleaned.

After tripping over who-knows-what and faceplanting directly into the carpet, he shoved himself off the ground to see the paper that was contained in the files strewn about the room. He looked over to the couch, his face heating up as he heard some muffled laughter, but all he saw was Russ smacking the other Papyrus on the shoulder before walking over to help clean up the papers.

He gave a quick thanks before rushing up the stairs to his bedroom, shutting the door and carefully setting down the papers before yanking out his phone to call Undyne.

“C’mon, ‘Dyne, pick up already,” he whisper to himself as it rang. Finally, she answered.

“What is it, Paps? Didn’t you just get home?” She asked. She sounded tired, but that was hardly new nowadays.

“Yeah, and you need to get here _ right now,” _he responded, quickly realizing how worrisome that could sound to her. “I-I mean, it’s not a human or anything, don’t worry! It’s just-- there are these two skeletons who I’ve never seen before just, like, hanging out on my couch. They say they’re from different universes.”

“...You’re serious?” She questioned.

“Absolutely,” he assured.

“...I’ll be there in about 10 minutes.”

He grinned, already hearing the confused excitement in her voice. Anything regarding alternate universes was something she would undoubtedly gush about, and now was finally her chance to do so. She was going to _ love _it.

They said their goodbyes, and he hung up.

Now, all he had to do was _ wait. _

* * *

Five minutes later, there was an incessant knock at the front door, and Papyrus all but sprinted down the stairwell to open it. Outside, of course, was Undyne. She was still dressed in her royal uniform, with her crown, robe, and armor, but she had an excited smile on her face that showed a small glimpse into the past. He couldn’t help but smile right back.

“Where are they?” She asked, fidgeting with one of the small flowers in her braid.

“Right inside,” Papyrus answered, stepping aside to make room. She walked in eagerly, looking around the entire room before her eye landed on the two bemused skeletons sitting on the couch.

“Woah!” Undyne exclaimed, quickly running over to get a closer look. “Are you guys _ really _ from a different universe?? How’d you get _ here? _Could you show me?”

Russ attempted to escape into the couch with every question, his grin soon turning tense as he waited for a chance to respond. _ ‘Papyrus,’ _the rude, sharp one, seemed to take notice and piped up.

“If you ever want a single answer, you’re gonna have to slow the hell down,” he barked, cutting her off completely. “One question at a time, or none at all.”

Papyrus (the normal, non-rude one, and wow, _ that _was very quick to get annoying and confusing) nearly snapped back at him for being an asshole to his <strike>sister </strike>best friend, before she corrected herself.

“Oh right, sorry!” She apologized quickly. “It’s hard for me to focus on one thing when I’m super worked up, and this is just _ so _cool!!”

“It’s alright,” Russ waved off, seeming to relax a little. “Not everyone is as used to this as we are. Go on, ask whatever you want to know!”

Within the next ten minutes, Papyrus found out that Russ and Red-Papyrus were _ very _insistent that they could travel between universes, by Russ’s will alone. They had been jumping around together for a while, in fact. Every once in a while, Red-Papyrus would look at Russ with what almost looked like pure admiration before quickly looking away after a few seconds. It was kind of cute, even if the guy was a bit of a jerk. Papyrus wondered if they might’ve been a couple, but didn’t bother bringing it up as he let Undyne take the spotlight. She had spent so much time in the past year being interviewed, it was about time the tables turned.

Once she eventually ran out of questions to ask, Russ had some of his own.

“So, what can you tell us about this universe?” He inquired. “I haven’t seen very many like this before!”

“Uh, well,” Undyne faltered, having been caught up in the thoughts of universes far better off than her own, “It’s… alright! I bet it’s pretty underwhelming compared to where you’ve been, though.”

“Nonsense!” Russ protested. “If anything, this place is a breath of fresh air! Hell, just in our last universe, we were almost killed at _ least _three times.”

“No we weren-- _ ow _ ! _ ” _Red-Papyrus denied, cutting himself off as Russ delivered a swift kick to his shin.

_ “That being said, _I love learning about new worlds!”

Papyrus listened closely as Undyne began to explain what happened to their world, how it had been so full of hope until that _ thing _fell and turned everything on its head. He put a hand on her shoulder, deciding to take over as she started to shake, just subtle enough to be noticeable up close.

“We’re building everything back up from the ground,” he said, trying his best to hide the bitterness in his tone with just a hint of optimism. “We’ll get back on our feet soon enough, though, and when we do, the surface won’t know what hit it.”

“I’m… very sorry that you’ve had to go through all that,” Russ consoled with a frown that didn’t sit quite right on his face. “I can’t even imagine…”

“Yeah, it’s… pretty tough,” Undyne sighed, lightly rubbing her arm. She looked at Papyrus with a small smile. “But Papyrus is right. We’re gonna show those humans that they can’t screw us over _ ever _again.”

“I’m sure you will!” Russ agreed, his cheerful grin quickly returning to his face. Even Red-Papyrus looked slightly less annoyed than before, choosing to nod his head slowly, looking nowhere in particular… Actually, the more Papyrus looked, the more he looked like he had just zoned out completely. Oh, well. They_ had _ been talking for a while, maybe Red-Papyrus just had a short attention span when it wasn’t Russ doing most of the talking.

Just when it seemed no one knew what else to say or ask, Undyne’s phone rang.

“Undyne here. What’s…” She answered, defaulting to her semi-formal tone but trailing off as she listened. “Alright, got it. I’m on my way now.”

Papyrus deflated a bit, disappointed that she already had to get back to work, but he knew that they were lucky that she was able to come by at all. The job of the Queen was a busy one, after all.

“I gotta get back to the castle,” she sighed, putting her phone back into her pocket after hanging up. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, though! This is awesome!”

She gave a big, toothy grin. Papyrus wasn’t sure if the other two noticed that it was the slightest bit strained. 

“We can’t wait to talk to you some more, as well!” Russ replied, giving her another big smile in return. 

A small wave goodbye was all she gave before she was gone.

Not long after, Papyrus’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

**Undyne: i JUST realized i forgot to say bye to u too** ** whoops**

**Undyne: thanks a ton for inviting me over tho!! u** ** always know how to cheer me up haha**

**Undyne: BTW i’m pretty sure muffet’s making another ** **giant batch of pastries if u wanna swing by** ** new home later, i think she misses u lol, ur ** **never around to eat all her stock anymore**

He smiled at the screen for a second before sending a quick reply that he’d definitely be there before nightfall. Those pastries were never quite as good when they weren’t directly out of the oven.

“Uh,” he stammered, suddenly aware of the two skeletons sitting on his couch, “Thanks for that. Talking to her, I mean. I appreciate it.”

“Of course!” Russ said with yet another grin. “I really don’t mind answering questions, as long as there aren’t too many at once. I understand how this could be confusing!”

Papyrus nodded. He stood there for a moment, not sure what to say next, before he finally turned back up the stairs and walked to his bedroom. Picking up the stack of files, he was grateful that he had decided to replace his broken lamp with a coffee maker as he started to work.

Several hours later, after he tucked the files somewhere they wouldn’t get caught up in the mess of his house, he wandered out and down the stairs. A quick look out the window told him that it was already nearly nightfall, but he doubted Muffet would mind his lateness all _ that _much. He heard the quiet noise of Mettaton’s new talkshow on the TV as he walked down.

He slowed to a stop at the end of the steps as he saw the two strange skeletons still on his couch, except now one of them seemed to be sleeping. Russ had his arm around Red-Papyrus’s shoulder, who was snoring softly as he curled up close to the other’s ribcage. He looked a lot less angry and mean when he was asleep, apparently.

Russ gave a small wave, giving him a quizzical look, but not saying anything. He was probably trying to avoid waking Red-Papyrus up, Papyrus noted.

“I’m gonna get some food from Muffet,” he whispered. “Do you want anything?”

Russ looked surprised at the question, then sick for a split second before giving a polite, but tight smile as he swiftly shook his head.

“More for me, then,” Papyrus joked, walking past the two and to the door. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

He walked out, then stopped for a second after closing the door.

So… he had two skeletons who were _ supposedly _him from two different universes setting up camp on his couch. Now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure they’d never even asked to stay there. In fact, they had pretty much broken into his house.

He knew he should probably be mad, or at least a little _ miffed, _but…

As long as he got to see Undyne happy again, he didn’t really mind.


	2. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus is assigned a mission from the Queen herself. Of course, he can't go against direct orders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you are prone to secondhand embarrassment i'm sorry

Papyrus awoke with a start, scrambling for the notebook next to his bed before he even fully registered his own consciousness. His vision was blurry as his eyes tried to adjust to the light in the room, giving him trouble as he looked around for his pen. Finally, he spotted it on the floor, and grabbed it.

Determined to jot down the details of his dream before he forgot it again, he flipped to a new page. He began to doodle the details frantically, already feeling the dream slip away.

A sloppy drawing of a shadowy figure here, a scribbly needle sketch there, and the memory was gone.

He fell back onto his unmade bed with a frustrated sigh. He _ knew _ he was having the same dream every night, so _ why _couldn’t he ever remember enough of it for it to make sense? He held the notebook up above his face, lazily flipping through the previous pages to see if they had been any more successful.

One page had the same as this morning’s had, only with the addition of a human child whose eyes had been scratched out with a red pen. Another page was completely different, containing nonsensical words instead of meaningless doodles.

_ Beware the shadow who speaks in song. _

Other than _ ‘tra la la,’ _ that was the only thing on the page. He still didn’t have a clue what it meant, but it made him feel _ wrong. _ Not angry, not scared, just _ wrong. _ He didn’t like it.

He didn’t realize his phone was buzzing until the screen was already filled with unread texts. Picking it up off the edge of the mattress, he read over them, hoping it wasn’t anything urgent.

**Undyne: hey**

**Undyne: hey**

**Undyne: hye**

**Undyne: hey***

**Undyne: dude answer meeeeeeee**

**Undyne: i have**

**Undyne: a Mission**

**Undyne: for YOUUUUUUUUU**

He rolled his eyes, a smile already forming on his face.

**papyrus: what is it**

**papyrus: should i be scared**

**papyrus: i’m scared**

**Undyne: NO dw its an easy mission**

**Undyne: i mean,,, maybe anyway**

**Undyne: hopefully????**

**papyrus: how reassuring**

**Undyne: LISTEn**

**Undyne: i need u to find out as much about those other skeleton guys as u can**

**Undyne: that notebook u got?? get another one and write all that shit downnn**

**papyrus: y tho**

**Undyne: BECAUSE I CANT AND ITS KILLIN GME**

**Undyne: do you have any idea how much it SUCKS to be stuck in a castle all day while THIS is going on????**

**Undyne: A LOT**

**Undyne: I have like 4 meetings today bro this is the only freetime i’m gonna get**

**Undyne: Which is why!!!!! You have to do this!!!!!!!!!**

**Undyne: for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ;-;**

**papyrus: okokokokok i’ll do it**

**papyrus: BUT i have one question**

**Undyne: yes you can use ur multicolor pen**

Papyrus snickered, erasing the question he had already been typing.

Welp. Looked like he had some interviewing to do.

He had to rummage around in his closet for a notebook he hadn’t already filled front to back, before finally coming across one that only had about three pages written in. It was in poor shape, and he vaguely remembered pulling it out of the dump at some point. Oh well, it’d have to do.

He walked to the door of his bedroom, ready to go downstairs, but paused as he heard someone moving around in the kitchen below.

_ “Wow,” _ his own muffled voice said, albeit a bit scratchier, “There’s not a lot of edible stuff in here. I bet I can still figure something out, though.”

Papyrus frowned. Were they going through his _ fridge? _

His suspicions were confirmed as he heard the small sound of the stove being turned on. He shook the frown off of his face, remembering his ‘mission’ as he finally opened the door and walked down to the living room, where Russ was still sitting on the couch. He didn’t look much like he had moved since the previous night, other than the lack of Red-Papyrus next to him.

“Whatcha makin’?” He asked as Russ waved, barely looking away from Mettaton’s show on the TV. This time, it looked to be the cooking show.

“Um,” Russ began, clearly not knowing what the answer was. “Papyr-”

“Pancakes, apparently,” Red-Papyrus answered instead, cutting the other off as he poked his head out of the kitchen. “You eat a lot of take-out, don’t you?”

“Uh…Yeah,” Papyrus said, and he returned to the kitchen. He emerged one more time, mouth open to say something else, but cut himself off when he noticed the notebook in Papyrus’s hand.

“What’s that for?” He asked, gesturing to it with a clawed finger. “Are you gonna try to make us into your lab rats or something?”

Papyrus didn’t know why, but the term _ ‘lab rats’ _made him flinch. 

“No! Well, I mean—,” he stammered, earning a cautious look from both of them before he continued, “--I just. Um. Undyne asked me to write stuff down?? About you two???”

With how that sentence came out, paired with the strange looks he got from his two clones, he barely held back the urge to bury himself into his sweatshirt.

“Oh, it’s a research thing, isn’t it?” Russ inquired, to which Papyrus gave a very tired _ yes. _“Well, go ahead, then! Ask whatever you need!”

Twenty minutes passed as he asked Russ a few very basic questions, writing down notes as the other spoke. He tried to ignore the smell of pancakes, struggling to keep his mind on the questions while the scent reminded him that he hadn’t eaten yet. To make matters worse, soon Red-Papyrus rejoined them on the couch with a full plate, covered in far too much syrup to be reasonable.

Ugh, whatever, _ that _ wasn’t what he needed to be focusing on. With a wish that Red-Papyrus didn’t leave the stove on, he began to ask questions to them _ both. _

“Okay, um,” he began, suddenly unsure of what to ask. He flipped to the first page of his torn notebook, clicking his pen a few times as he thought. “...Well, first off, how long have you two been together?”

“Time is hard to tell between universes,” Russ sighed. “But if I had to guess… I think I went to _ his _universe a month or two ago?? Like I said, it’s really hard to tell.”

“Oh, so you started dating in his univer--”

Red-Papyrus suddenly cut him off with a loud cough as he choked on his food, continuing to cough even as he waved away Russ’s attempt to help.

“We’re not--,” he tried to say between coughs, “--we’re n-not. Um. Dating.”

Oh. _ Oh. _Whoops.

“Ah, shit, sorry!” Papyrus apologized quickly, already feeling his face heat up in embarrassment. He noticed Red-Papyrus was living up to his name as well, as his entire skull might as well have turned red. “I shouldn’t have assumed, uhhh-”

“It’s alright, don’t worry! He just gets flustered really easily,” Russ assured, snickering as Red-Papyrus looked at him in utter betrayal, his blush growing more intense. “Besides, we _ are _ pretty close. It’s not _ that _far of a reach, I suppose.”

Red-Papyrus shot him a glare from where he was sinking into the couch as he pulled his scarf up to partially cover his face. Clearly, he wasn’t so willing to forgive.

...Okay, _ maybe _it was about time for a break from note-taking.

“I-I’m gonna go, uh, eat,” was all Papyrus said before he rushed into the kitchen. There were a few pancakes stacked up on a dish that he didn’t even know he owned, and it was clear that Red-Papyrus had simply used up all of the mix that was left. He got out a plate (a ceramic one; he didn’t know why Red-Papyrus had chosen one of the shitty paper ones) and put a couple pancakes on it, also choosing to drown them in syrup. He wondered if having a sweet tooth was a trait most Papyruses shared.

He… still didn’t fully believe that they were _ actually _from two different universes. For all he knew, they could be making things up as they go along. But hey, if Undyne was having fun with it, then who was he to rain on the parade?

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he went to walk back out into the living room.

After meeting the glare of Red-Papyrus yet again, he backed right up into the kitchen.

Yeah, he’d rather just eat in here. 

With a small huff, he took the first bite of the pancake made by some random stranger he didn’t know, and gasped.

What the fuck.

What the _ fuck. _

“What the fuck!” He all but shouted, leaning out of the kitchen to meet Red-Papyrus’s eyes, deliberately this time.

“...What?” The other asked, looking confused yet cautious as he gave a quick glance to the plate in Papyrus’s hand.

“This is fucking delicious!” He responded, pointing at the food indignantly. “This is literally just cheap pancake mix! _ How _did you do this??”

“I just… followed the recipe??” Red-Papyrus answered, looking increasingly perplexed as Russ merely laughed. 

“I’m a _ shit _ cook, though!” Papyrus exclaimed, setting the plate down on the counter with a small _ clink _sound, slowing down only a little when the other flinched. “It’s not fair! I haven’t tasted anything that good in like, ten years!!”

“Well, isn’t that sweet?” Russ laughed, patting his friend on the back with a large grin. “C’mon, say thanks! He’s being nice!”

“Th-thank… you???” Red-Papyrus sputtered. With how hard he was gripping his plate, it was a miracle that the claws on his gloves didn’t break through.

He looked… uncomfortable?

Well, that wasn’t the plan at all. Shit.

Papyrus was about to apologize, but before he could get a word out, Russ piped up.

“He means it, too!” He said, throwing an arm around the other’s shoulder. “I haven’t really tasted it, sure, but everything you make looks and smells super good!”

“...Well, it’s not--”

“Oh don’t even _ start _ with _ that,” _ Russ huffed, cutting Red-Papyrus off mid-sentence as he promptly began listing off the reasons he should be more confident in his abilities.

The two weren’t dating, and they hardly knew him, and yet Papyrus _ still _managed to feel like the third wheel.

* * *

After a while, the awkward tension that filled the air had subsided greatly, and Papyrus was able to get down a decent amount of notes. He read back over them quickly, making sure they were suitable and easy for Undyne to understand.

**RUSS--**

_ *drinks a lot _

_ *smokes too _

_ *FULL of energy how the fuck _

_ *????? _

**RED-PAPYRUS--**

_ *kinda mean _

_ *bad with compliments _

_ *REALLY good cook _

_ *flusters easy _

_ *the only one whom i have witnessed sleeping _

**BOTH--**

_ *nomads?? sleep only on the couches of other people _

_ *not too concerned with manners _

_ *NOT a couple!!!!!!!!! _

_ *both have lots of friends and lots of enemies i dont know what that means but it sounds cool and cryptic so im writing it _

_ *come from worlds that are almost the exact opposite of this one _

He sighed. Alright, yeah, he definitely could’ve gotten more, but he could tell that the other two were getting restless.

“I think that’s enough interviewing for now,” he said, stashing the notebook safely away in his inventory. 

“For _ now,” _ Russ repeated with a small sigh of his own. Papyrus hadn’t thought it possible before now, but he almost sounded _ tired _. He composed himself quickly, though. “So, what kind of stuff do you do around here for fun?”

“Well, we’ve got-- uhhh,” Papyrus began, but stammered when he realized that most of the underground’s “entertainment” was long dead. “There’s Mettaton, I guess. He just got a talk show a few months ago. I’m usually too busy to watch it, though.”

“Anything more, ah, _engaging_ _ ?” _The other asked. “I don't mean to be rude, that show seemed pretty good from what I saw of it! But...”

“No, I get it,” he agreed. “There’s only so much sitting around I can handle before it gets _ really _boring.”

He sat for a moment, thinking, before he finally realized that he had things to do that _ weren’t _just keeping his houseguests entertained.

“Actually, I just remembered,” he said, “I’m supposed to check up on the puzzles and traps in the ruins today. I should probably-”

“Oh, that sounds fun!” Russ interrupted. “I can’t remember the last time I did a puzzle just for fun!”

“You can’t remember last _ week,” _ Red-Papyrus pointed out with an eye roll, though the smallest upturn of his mouth hinted that he liked the idea of puzzles as well.

Papyrus paused. Was this _ really _the kind of thing they wanted to do?

“...I don’t know,” he hesitated. “Those puzzles are designed to capture human souls. The only things we’ve used to test ‘em are a bunch of dummies, and those usually end up shredded.”

“That’s _ perfect!” _Russ exclaimed, stars in his eyes. Even Red-Papyrus looked like he was far more on board than he had been before.

  
Yeah, okay, these guys were _ weird. _


End file.
